Category: Family

New year can be a real anticlimax at times. So many of us put so much focus on making changes that often we can expect too many things of ourselves and we end up failing at the first hurdle. However, it can also be an ideal time to make some of the changes in regards to your foundation, which can then be built upon as the year goes on. We all have big aspirations. Perhaps to run a marathon. Go on holiday somewhere faraway or exoctic, or even just some focus on out self-care and financial goals. So how can you really use this time of year to give yourself a boost? I wanted to share with you four areas that you can do it. I hope it provides you with the inspiration to take on those new year’s resolutions and goals after all.

Working on your current financial situation

Your finances could be a big problem for you right now, and this could be what is hindering you moving forward to take on some of the other aspects of your life. It can be quite daunting to approach your financial situation and make some changes, especially after the Christmas season. But taking control of things like debt where websites like repair.credit can offer advice, or even reduce your outgoings so you can free up some income to save for other things can really be inspiring to then give you the right foundation to take other parts of your life.

Taking some time to work on your mindset

Your mind is such a powerful tool, and so it can be the difference between taking action and not doing. So it is always worth taking some time for some care with yourself and working on your current mindset situation. Whether you are genuinely a positive person, or find yourself feeling like negative thoughts are creeping in, being proactive with your thought process and taking time for behaviours like gratitude and even meditation and exercise, can help you to improve your mind and general well being.

Embracing a lifestyle change

Maybe you set yourself a goal of a lifestyle change. Perhaps it was to take part in veganuary or cut out dairy or gluten from your diet. Maybe you made a promise to yourself to be more active. It can be hard when these goals can be big changes, so you may want to start off with smaller bite sized chunks to help you get back on track. This can help you stay motivated as you start to achieve things with a lore long term goal in mind.

Taking action with your career or future plans

Finally, now is the time it get some plans in place for the other changes you wanted to make, It might have been to do with your career, perhaps getting on the property ladder, or evn just ticking some of those things off your bucket list. Having a plan put in place helps you to make these goals a lot more real.

I hope that these four areas help give you a boost for your year ahead.

I am super excited about Coco playing in theaters now, obviously, I love Disney movies, but there’s an animated short that is to be shown for a limited time before Coco? For a limited time see Olaf’s Frozen Adventure, an animated short playing before Coco in theaters everywhere!

I noticed when driving by our local theater that Coco was playing and to my surprise, after telling my teenager that I wasn’t quite sure what Coco was all about, I came home to go through my email to find these clips! I was super excited, but now I know that I must watch this film. Being a Disney family, we try to catch every new Disney movie because Disney always does a great job with their films. Since we love Disney so much, I wanted to share some clips for Coco and a sneak peek at Olaf’s Frozen Adventure too.

It can often feel as though whenever you come across something that is designed to be fun “for all the family” that it’s actually just designed to keep the kids entertained and will almost certainly result in parents sitting around ready to fall asleep at any moment. This applies to films, games, toys, activities, and just about anything else. Of course, there’s not always something wrong with that. After all, kids need things that are just for them as much as anyone else, and most parents understand pretty clearly just how important it is to allow kids to have their time. But sometimes you just want to do something that you can all enjoy, even if it’s just for a little while. After all, if it’s something that you can enjoy too then you’re going to be able to get stuck in and engage with your child much more effectively. Not only that but it will make the whole experience a lot less stressful for you and make you far more likely to want to take your kids out for those kinds of activities again. With that in mind, here are a few days out and activities that really are fun for ALL the family.

The aquarium

It doesn’t matter who you are or how many times you’ve been around the block; there is just something magical about an aquarium. It can often feel as though you’ve stepped into a whole other world which, to a certain extent, you have. There are things to see that you’d otherwise never experience in person and new things to learn around every corner. Aquariums are often designed with entire families in mind, so it’s not just about the kids. Besides, there isn’t anyone on the face of the earth who could watch a shark swim right past them and not feel a sense of awe and wonder at it. There are usually aquariums in just about every city but finding ones that are really worth visiting can be tough. Check out this page with the results for “SeaQuest aquariums near me“. That way you’ll be able to find the best possible aquatic day out for you and your family.

Go-karts

There’s just something primal about wanting to go fast. Kids know the feeling well, and anyone who’s ever had the temptation to open up the engine of their car and really build up some speed knows it too. Which is why go-karting is such a fantastic activity because it gives the whole family a chance to indulge in that kind of activity without having to worry about getting yourself into any kind of dangerous situation. Sure, you’re probably going to have a bit more control over things that the kids but there are often different tracks for every level, and even if they don’t break any kind of speed records, they’re going to end up having an absolute whale of a time because it’s impossible not to feel like you’re picking up incredible amounts of speed when you’re behind the wheel of a go-kart.

The pool

If you’re not interested in spending a lot of money on some kind of complicated activity then why not just take the kids for a trip to the local pool. The wonderful thing about any day out with kids is that they have the amazing ability to turn anything into a game. All they need is a large body of water and a few floats, and they’ll almost certainly be able to come up with a whole bunch of hilarious games for you all to play. Not only that but a lot of pools have things like floats, inflatables, and other fun things to play with. That’s not even mentioning those pools with waterslides that you can all race down at high speed before crashing into the water with as big a splash as possible!

A day at the beach

Then again, why spend any money when one of the most enjoyable places in the world is totally free and just waiting for you to come and find it. The beach is one of those things that you almost can’t believe is totally natural since it seems perfectly designed to be fun for the entire family. The kids can build sandcastles, fish in rock pools, or splash about in the waves, while grown-ups can do everything from relaxing in the sun with a good book to heading out into the deep water on a board ready to catch some serious surf. The fact that you and your family can have this much fun without having to spend any money is honestly amazing, and it’s the kind of opportunity that you should take as often as possible.

A family movie night

Of course, if you want to have fun with your family, that doesn’t mean that you need to get out and do something dramatic out in the world. Sometimes you just need to bring the fun to you. Why not get everyone cuddled up on the couch, get a big bowl of popcorn ready, and have yourself a movie marathon? You can each choose a movie so that you can all be sure that you’ll be watching at least one thing that you actually enjoy. It’s a simple way to spend your time, but if the weather’s horrible and you don’t have that much money to spend, it’s often the perfect family activity.

Sure, not every activity needs to be perfect for the whole family, but it’s always much nicer if everyone can enjoy themselves as much as possible rather than having to worry about getting bored and frustrated when your kids really want to you get involved with what they’re doing. Of course, these are far from the only options available to you. There are plenty of things that you and your family can do for fun; it’s just a matter of figuring out what you all enjoy and embracing that. If you find something that you all love then you could end up discovering a whole new family tradition that will stick with you for years to come.

Christmas is nearly upon us, so it’s probably a good time to begin thinking about preparing for the festive season so that as soon as thanksgiving has come and past, you can concentrate on making this the best Christmas yet. Instead of doing what you usually do, why not take Christmas to a new level with these fabulous ideas?

Decoration

One of the first things that we begin to notice when Christmas rolls around is the decorations going up in shops and around town. If you’ve been using the same decorations for your home for many years now, or you feel like a change in color then consider going all out for your home decor this year.

Usually, families have a real tree, or a green plastic Christmas tree to decorate in their home. These days, you can get different colored trees to display in your home, either as your main Christmas tree, or one for another room to keep the festivities throughout your home. If your home is stuck to a particular color theme, why not choose a tree that will fit in perfectly with your theme? For example, if you have a black and white theme, a black fibre optic Christmas tree would fit perfectly in your home.

Lets not forget about the baubles either. Depending on what kind of tree you have, or what theme you’re going for you can get corresponding baubles and tinsel to match. Alternatively, decorate and design your own baubles with the kids to make the magic even more real.

Another idea would be to decorate some figures to display in your garden with Christmas colors and fairy lights. For example, creating a snowman out of cardboard or a similar material and decorating him with lights and funky colors would make your home decor stand out from the crowd, and also give the children something to do when the christmas holidays roll around.

Tradition

It’s likely that in your childhood you have traditions from Christmas that you would like to continue with. While that’s a great idea, creating new traditions for your family will be something that you and your children cherish for the rest of your lives. Simple things like making sure you’re all together on Christmas eve to watch a film, with special treats for the family make all the difference to how Christmas feels to everyone.

Many people have traditions like not opening gifts until they have had their Christmas lunch, which extends the excitement even further. Just make it special for your family, whatever you choose to do.

Gifts

Even though we all know that Christmas isn’t about the gifts, it is a majorly exciting part of the day for everyone involved, especially the children. Whether or not you’ve chosen to include Santa in your children’s lives, the thrill of opening presents is tremendous for them so remember to create some magic in their younger years to look fondly back on.

Stuck for ideas on what to get your children, or possibly even the rest of your family? Check out these brilliant ideas for stocking fillers to see if you can find some inspiration! http://www.giftbeta.com/category/best-stocking-stuffers/. While there’s no rules on how little or much you should spend, try to remember that Christmas isn’t just about gifts, and that spending time together as a family is more important.

Food

While the traditional roast turkey might not be something that can be missed off your shopping list, why not consider adding some unusual delights into your cart? Treats like cheeses, wines, pickles and biscuits can completely step up your food game on Christmas day.

One thing that might make Christmas more exciting for the family is to get everyone involved in cooking the main meal. Giving everyone an assigned task and then showing off all of your hard work at meal time will leave everyone feeling accomplished and more importantly, full.

So when the time comes for you to do your Christmas shop, remember to browse all of the aisles for the delicacies that stores tend to bring out around Christmas time. You might even find a new food to add to your list permanently!

Give

While you may be giving gifts to your family, don’t forget about the people who don’t have much in this world and make their year by giving to them, especially in these colder months. You can visit homeless shelters to serve food, create gift boxes for children in poorer countries, donate to charities, and much more.

Not only will this help those that are in need, but it will give you an enormous sense of well being. If you can’t afford to give money, give your time because that’s just as appreciated for many people who are facing Christmas alone this year. If a neighbor of yours is alone, make a point of inviting them over for Christmas dinner so that they can enjoy the day as much as possible. Nobody should be alone at any time in their life, especially Christmas.

Remembering what it’s about

As briefly mentioned earlier, many people tend to forget what Christmas is really about due to the over commercialisation of it through the media. You probably already know that Christmas is derived from the religion Christianity. That’s not to say you must be a Christian to celebrate it, but do try and remember about where Christmas came from, and that it’s not solely about gifts and food. It’s also about much needed family time, and appreciating what you have in life. It’s also a time to build bridges with people, catch up with old friends and generally, a very lovely time of year.

So, step up your Christmas game this year with these fabulous ideas and make it your best Christmas yet! Remember, nobody should be alone at Christmas. The more the merrier!

Death is one of the only constants in life, this is both sad and true. We don’t like thinking about it, we don’t like talking about it, and this inevitably leads to us struggling to cope with it. When a family member dies, it will be heartbreaking for everyone. But, it’s even worse when you’re totally unprepared for everything that follows. You heap additional stress and worry on your family, making the whole situation a hundred times harder for everyone.

So, while you might not like to talk about it, understanding what to do when a family member passes away will be helpful. Here are some things you need to think about and might not be aware of:

Organize The Funeral

Organizing a funeral is a lot harder than most people think. It’s also incredibly expensive, and you can go here to see the average funeral costs today. You have to do everything from choosing the location to designing the headstone. It’s easily the worst part of dealing with death as you don’t want to go through all of this. But, if you can prepare in advance it will help you. As weird as it may sound, having a few places in mind for the ceremony and wake, along with a headstone company, will help you when the time eventually comes around.

Write An Obituary

It’s customary to write an obituary for a loved one when they pass away. This is basically a short paragraph that explains the person died and informs others when the funeral is. Obituaries are often posted in local newspapers to get the word out about the funeral service and so other people can pay their respects. But, they can also appear online, and you can click here for more info on how to do that. Either way, you need to write one if you want people to attend the funeral. People will often send sympathy flowers to your family upon reading it too, it’s just the easiest way of getting an announcement out there.

Support Your Children

It’s so important that you provide as much support as possible to your children during this time. They can be incredibly upset and have trouble dealing with their emotions. This is where great parents come into their own as you’re able to provide the emotional support they need to get through this. There are a few things I mentioned in this article here that can be applied to this situation. Primarily, showing love and affection as well as offering advice. Don’t neglect your children’s feelings, regardless of how old they might be. Even kids in their teenage years struggle with death, make sure you’re there to lend a helping hand.

If you learn how to deal with death, it will be less traumatic for your family. No doubt the situation will still be heartbreaking, but you should be in more control. Believe me, I don’t enjoy thinking about this topic either. However, there’s no point avoiding it as we will all go through this experience at some point.

Parenting, like most things in life, is all a matter of balance. While it’s not right to demonise use of technology- there can be some apparent developmental gains to be made in letting children use technology– so time spent on the iPad needs to be balanced out.

Encouraging our kids to get outdoors and make the most of the world around them is a journey, and by setting up fun activities as a family that make the most of our natural environment, you can create some precious family time memories, while also finding that balance. Here are just a few ideas to make your days out sparkle:

Go on a treasure hunt

Revealing the wonder of the natural world can be as simple as making a game out of an ordinary nature walk. Create a list of flora and fauna that are all around your natural area – leaves, flowers, birds and small animals you are likely to spot and have your children do a treasure hunt to locate these all around you. A fun trip outdoors like this will have more benefits than just adding a glow to their cheeks – it also requires observational and problem-solving skills that will get them thinking. Make the outdoors special to them by creating a map of their favourite spots along the way.

Fly a kite

What could be a more cheerful activity outdoors than flying kites together? These traditional toys are great fun, whether you buy one or even have fun making your own from construction straws and crepe paper. There is a range of coordination and even engineering skills involved in making your own kite, and running around outside flying them is lots of exercise without seeming it. Find out more information on how to get started with family kite flying at stuffkidslove.net.

Grab some chalk

An effortless way to engage young minds in the outside world is by giving them some chalk and letting the sidewalk become their canvas. What art can they create inspired by the features of the natural landscape? There are also endless spelling, counting and physical games that can be played when you have that drawing board – from traditional playground favourites like hopscotch to hangman and connect four. Let their little imaginations run wild, or try incorporating natural elements like leaves and pebbles into drawings.

Have a campout

Vacations in the great outdoors can be a happy childhood memory for many of us, but if you don’t have the time or budget to go on a trip, or have younger children that need their home comforts, a great way to get started is by camping out in your own backyard! The Great American Backyard Campout has lots of ideas for fun games and activities to be enjoyed doing this, but you can’t beat telling stories by torchlight and even having your children make shadow puppets to use in putting on a show.

Making the most of outdoors can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be, and once you’ve had a taste of all the family fun to be had outdoors, you’ll be looking for any opportunity!

I absolutely love encouraging a love of reading from a ripe old age of newborn status. The kids will always joke about how Mama read to them in the womb. I sure as heck did! I think reading is important because it opens up your mind to a whole new world. Through books you can experience both fiction and non-fiction. Through books you can learn to get in touch with your creative side. Books truly open our minds to learn, have fun and think outside of the box.

With the holiday season quickly approaching, I thought it a great time to share these Thanksgiving themed books for little children. Go ahead, add some to your collection today.

13 Thanksgiving Books for Children

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There will come a time in our lives when we will need to look after our elderly parents or grandparents. Eventually, they may begin to struggle with their hearing, sight and simple tasks; possibly even suffering from memory problems too. When we are children, the adults in our family do everything for us; from feeding us, clothing us, bathing us to taking us to school every day. As we grow into adults and our relatives grow older, our roles begin to switch until we are the ones who need to look after them.

There are a few different care options out there; you could opt for a care home, assisted living, letting them stay at their residence, or moving them in with you. If you decide to move a relative into your home, there a several different things you will need to implement for easier living.

Orthopaedic Chairs

Because the elderly become weaker, their joints and muscles struggle with bending down and standing up after an extended period. This means that something as simple as sitting in a chair can become a task. Luckily plenty of companies make electric recliner chairs which also rise up; meaning that your elderly relative will have the extra help they need.

Bath Lift

Like above, bad back pain makes it hard to sit in the bath. Elderly people can struggle to stand in a shower cubicle for a lengthy period of time, which is why sitting in the bath is a safer option. You can install a bath lift which is essentially a seat which lowers into the bath and rises up afterward.

Emergency Alert System

If you have a full time job which requires you to be out of the house for long periods of time during the week, it might be a good idea to install an alert system such as medicalert.systems. This is essentially a cord or button which installed in your home which when activated contacts the emergency services. This means that if your elderly relative has a nasty fall or accident while you aren’t in the house, medical professionals will be alerted and can come to their aid. It puts your mind at ease and allows you to leave the house without too much worry.

Stair Lift

Your elderly relative will want independence in the home, and part of this means being able to roam around the house freely. If you have a multiple story home, this may involve installing a stair lift to make access easier and safer for your relative. You can find stair lifts online such as here: http://www.stannah.com/. They are a little pricey, but the independence they give is worth the investment for your loved one.

Disability Toilet Features

Finally, you should consider trying to make your bathroom facilities accessible to your relative. As they have in disabled toilets in public, a wall bar can make a huge difference to your relative and allow them to visit the toilet independently.

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